South Afghan offensive successful, NATO reports

2-week mission drives out insurgents, but violence still prevalent

Fisnik Abrashi, The Associated Press

Updated
10:00 pm PDT, Sunday, September 17, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan -- NATO said Sunday that its two-week offensive in south Afghanistan was a "significant success" that had driven Taliban insurgents from their positions and opened the way for development. But violence was unabated, with suicide bombers killing three civilians and wounding six soldiers.

Militants also took control of a district in the west of the country after chasing away the police, an official said, in an apparent attempt to open a new front.

The developments came as the country is going through its bloodiest phase since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the hard-line Taliban from power in 2001.

Lt. Gen. David Richards, head of the 20,000-strong NATO-led force in Afghanistan, said the insurgents have been forced out of the volatile former Taliban heartland, and reconstruction and development efforts there would soon begin.

Alliance officials have said more than 500 militants were killed during the two-week operation, centered mainly in Panjwai, Pashmul and Zhari districts of southern Kandahar province.

Two foreign military convoys in different areas came under attack from suicide bombers, a method insurgents in Iraq use frequently.

A 17-year-old youth carrying explosives jumped in front of a U.S. military convoy east of Kabul, killing a bystander, Afghan police said.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber plowed his explosive-laden vehicle into a Canadian military convoy west of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, killing one civilian and wounding three soldiers, authorities said. Eight civilians also were wounded, said Zulmai Khan, a police official at the scene.

Most of Afghanistan's recent surge in violence has taken place in volatile southern provinces, where about 8,000 NATO forces took military control from the U.S.-led coalition on Aug. 1. NATO commanders say they need 2,500 more troops plus greater air support to crush the Taliban threat more quickly.

Richards said the end of the southern offensive should open the way for much-needed reconstruction and development in areas the central government has been unable to reach.

But about 400 heavily armed Taliban crossed into the western Farah province, taking control of its Gulistan district after chasing away the police and burning the district headquarters and a local clinic, said provincial police Chief Gen. Sayed Aqa Saqib. No casualties were reported.

"We are hoping the government will send more troops, because there are too many Taliban in the area," Saqib said.

Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, the Afghan army's chief of operations, acknowledged that the Taliban "were not all destroyed" and that some have simply slipped away into other areas. "They may reorganize, but our troops will follow," Karimi said.

Richards ruled out immediately pursuing the Taliban holdouts.

"We will not dance to the Taliban's tune," Richards said. "They want to deflect us and take us away. We won't let them do that."

The end of one operation coincided with a start of a new U.S. and Afghan offensive in the east of the country.

Dubbed Operation Mountain Fury, the new offensive involves 7,000 U.S. and Afghan soldiers in the central and eastern provinces of Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktya and Logar, the military said.

Fighter planes and helicopters will back the ground forces.

A separate U.S.-led operation called Big Northern Wind has been under way in Kunar province's Korangal Valley since late August.

The Taliban, al-Qaida and other Islamic extremist groups are known to operate in the east, especially in the area bordering Pakistan where the reach of the government is weak and militants find sanctuaries.